Houston, Houston, Do You Read? by James Tiptree Jr.

You can’t go very long before someone, somewhere, some “good man” has done something harmful to women.Ī man can be a good man - to men - and it doesn’t say anything about how he it to women. This isn’t a comment on any particular incident - this has stuck in my head since April, I’ve had this draft started for weeks. We hear again and again the things “good men” do.

One of these good men tried to take over the ship and kill people because women ruling themselves offends him religiously and personally. One of these good men tried to rape a woman. The lead quote is from the end of the story and really stuck in me. And they come to find out that there are no men left on earth. They are picked up by a ship full of women. The plot is briefly that a mission from the early space program goes wrong and the men go through some type of time distortion and end up in the future.

Read it now there are spoilers in the next paragraph. But the individual story can be found here, and as an audio drama on The Internet Archive (It’s #17). For my monthly book club we recently read the collection of short stories “Her Smoke Rose Up Forever.” It’s a great collection, highly recommended. It’s been bouncing around my head for a while that James Tiptree Jr.’s “Houston Houston, Do You Read?” is a really great short story and you should read it. “They were good men,” Lorimer repeats elegiacally. Was it interesting? Did you learn enough?” His voice is trying to shake. 2 notes AugDanielle Reads - Houston, Houston, Do You Read? (Spoilers)

Houston, Houston, Do You Read? by James Tiptree Jr.